Various Artists - Strip Along With Us (1963)

A real rare and obscure LP from Strand Records.

This is a soundtrack album (from the liner notes: 
"Unidentified instrumental ensemble with master of ceremonies and audience reaction. "Authentic strip music for the discriminating stripper.") for all people who like to see striptease shows and maybe the idea behind this album is, that you can hear the music at home, close you eyes and imagine that you are in hot show in Las Vegas, Chicago ...

The music are jazz standards, played by completly unknown musicians.

Although unfortunately not all tracks survived, this is nice addition for your collection of obscure records.

The photo on the cover is "Miss Libby Jones, the Park Avenue Playgirl."

Some informations about Strand Records:

Strand was a New York label that started as a full-priced label distributed by Decca, but soon began specializing in budget issues. They were originally located, in 1959, at 680 Fifth Avenue in New York, but by 1960 had moved to 157 West 57th Street, New York. The vinyl tended toward thick and cheap, with many imperfections. Much of the label's output -- but not all -- was "bargain bin filler." As with many of the other budget labels, the philosophy seemed to be "anything to sell records," and if that meant misleading the buying public, so be it. If that also meant using the tried-and-true industry practice of not paying artists - - or not even telling them their record had been released, then that worked, too. There are plenty of examples below, including putting out a Virtues album titled Guitar Boogie Shuffle, the name of their hit, when the song was not even on the album!

There were a couple of other notable albums, particularly the albums by Larry Hall and a couple of Chris Columbo albums with the minor hit "Summertime," but most of the output was typical bargain-bin dross. They did issue albums with some "name" artists like Bobby Rydell, Brook Benton, Ray Charles, Ivory Joe Hunter, Memphis Slim, and others, but these were typically tracks recorded early in the artists' career, not examples of their current work. Artists like Don Cherry, Texas Jim Robertson, Joe Zawinul, and Karen Chandler had some hits during their careers, but the Strand albums were not those hits. Journeymen like Billy Mure and Specs Powell added name recognition.

Eventually, the label moved to 905 N. Broad Street in Philadelphia, near their demise around 1965.





Personnel:
unknown jazz band



Tracklist:

01. A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody (Berlin) 2.57
02. Misty (Garner) 4.30
03. Sophisticated Lady (Ellington/Mills/Parish) 3.27
04. Blues In The Night (Arlen/Mercer) 2.51
05. Night Train (Forrest/Simpkins/Washington) 3.35   

06. Harlem Nocturne (Hagen) 4.29
07. Temptation (not included)
08. Basin Street Blues (not included)
09. My Heart Belongs To Daddy (Porter) 3.49
10. Mood Indigo (Bigard/Ellington/Mills) 3.59


ARMU 1977
ARMU 1977 (zippyshare)